Foodborne disease hazards and burden in Ethiopia: A systematic literature review, 1990–2019

Abstract

BackgroundFoodborne disease (FBD) affects millions of people each year, posing a health burden similar to malaria, tuberculosis or HIV. A recent World Bank study estimated the productivity losses alone attributed to unsafe food within Africa at $20 billion in 2016, and the cost of treating these illnesses at an additional $3.5 billion. Ethiopia faces multiple food safety challenges due to lack of infrastructure and basic pre-requisites for food safety such as clean water and environment, washing facilities, compounded by limited implementation of food safety regulations, and a lack of incentives for producers to improve food safety. A consolidation of our understanding and evidence of the source, nature and scale of FBD in Ethiopia is needed to inform policy and future research. We performed a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) of publications on FBD occurrence in Ethiopia including hazard presence and impact.MethodThe SLR followed Cochrane and PRISMA guidelines. We searched PubMed and CAB-Direct for relevant publications between 1990 and 2019 (inclusive). Observational studies and reviews were included. Two reviewers screened titles and abstracts, and retained publications were reviewed in full for quality and data extraction.ResultIn total 128 articles met the inclusion criteria. Most articles focused on the identification of biological hazards in food. High levels of microbial contamination in different food value chains were often found in the small, ad hoc, observational studies that dominated the literature. Raw milk (22/128, 17.0%) and raw beef (21/128, 16.4%) were the most studied food products. Foodborne (FB) parasites were often found at higher rates in food than bacterial and viral pathogens, possibly due to differences in ease of identification. High levels of bacterial contamination on the hands of food handlers were widely reported. There were no reports on the incidence of human FBDs or resulting health and economic impacts.ConclusionOur findings reflect existing concerns around food safety in Ethiopia. A lack of substantial, coordinated studies with robust methodologies means fundamental gaps remain in our knowledge of FBD in Ethiopia, particularly regarding FBD burden and impact. Greater investment in food safety is needed, with enhanced and coordinated research and interventions.

Foodborne hazards in food in Burkina Faso, 1990–2019: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Our findings indicated that a variety of food samples were reported contaminated with food hazards reflecting the need to target different food value chainsincluding beef, poultry, pork, vegetables, cereals, fruits and water-for food safety interventions. Consistent with our findings, a review on food hazards in Ethiopia showed that food contamination with hazards is common in beef, poultry and vegetable food value chains (Gazu et al, 2023). The widespread contamination of foods with hazards in the country raises public health concerns, especially for vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, pregnant women and the immunocompromised.…”

“…Such monitoring schemes need comprehensive information on food safety, including the risk of different foodborne hazards, to inform public health policies and implement interventions that contribute to reducing foodborne disease burden. Systematic reviews reporting food hazards have been conducted in some African countries to provide synthesized information on food contamination in these countries, which help inform policy and decision making by different stakeholders (Alonso et al, 2016;Paudyal et al, 2017;Oduori and Kwoba, 2022;Gazu et al, 2023). However, such information is lacking in Burkina Faso.…”

Sero-Detection of HEV in Cancer Patients and Healthcare Workers, Sudan

“…Consumption of uncooked meat as one of the risk factors for transmission of HEV was recorded at high rates in both research groups, and more than that, it gave a significant association (p-value = 0.005) with the positivity of anti-HEV IgG antibodies in the healthcare workers, this because Sudanese people, like many others around the world, are accustomed to eating parts of sheep and cow meat without cooking. It is known that consumption of uncooked meat is a major cause of zoonosis [34] and some infectious diseases [35]. In general, the serological frequency of HEV among healthcare workers recorded in this study is an indicator of the extent of the spread of HEV in the community, so necessary precautions to limit the spread of the disease such as community surveys and vaccination studies should be activated.…”

Conditions and Antimicrobial Resistant Profiles of Campylobacter Species from Cow Milk Samples in Oromia Region, Ethiopia

“…This was relatively lower than the prevalence of 20.6% reported by [8] in raw milk collected from different dairy farms in Ethiopia, and [42] also reported (61.2%) the prevalence of Campylobacter in raw milk samples collected from milk collection centers and (41.8%) in retail markets. Another study conducted by [14] also found that the prevalence of Campylobacter was 55.6% in milk collection centers and 16.7% in raw milk retail markets. [30], also found a 63.2% prevalence of Campylobacter in raw milk from collection centers and a 42.1% prevalence in retail markets.…”